Judge says NY rafter can resume trips with a bond

Rafting company has $12,000 in fines

A state judge says a whitewater rafting company can resume guided trips in the Adirondacks but must post a $50,000 bond and cannot rent rafts or kayaks to customers who captain their own boats on rivers requiring licensed guides.

Judge Richard Giardino has fined Hudson River Rafting Co. of North Creek $12,000 in civil penalties for 10 documented incidents where employees were ticketed for guiding rafts or driving shuttle buses without appropriate licenses.

Giardino dismissed a state claim that the company and owner Patrick Cunningham engaged in false advertising.

After a client drowned last September and the company's staff had been issued 13 tickets by rangers for unlicensed guiding, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued to shut the company.